Cat owners should be prepared - the city's cat ordinance will go into affect on Tuesday. However, it's not until that day that the Elkins Rules and Ordinance Committee will meet to determine the process owners will have to go through to ensure they don't face fines for failure to license their feline companions.

"We are going to have to do some more work," Elkins Mayor Judy Guye said Thursday. "We have not done anything to start the process. We need to let the public know that the ordinance is going into effect."

When the ordinance was passed, it was decided it would go into effect with the start of the new fiscal year on Tuesday. Guye said City Treasurer Linda Croston has made up lucretius forms and certificates to give the owners as proof of licensure.

"We hope everyone will be aware of this," Guye said. "It is a way to start identifying owned cats and cats that are wild. We need to address the feral cat problem."

Randolph County Animal Control Officer Jim Cain has said a licensing system would at least help him go door to door so he could distinguish whether cats are pets or feral.

Guye said one city sanitation worker was recently bitten by a cat as he was opening a dumpster. There was no way to identify the cat to see if it had its proper vaccinations.

"If we can identify the cat then we can work on finding the feral cats," Guye said.

The ordinance states that the city of Elkins realizes that registration and licensing of cats is a "prudent and appropriate manner in which to control the cat population within the city and to restrict the spread of disease, property and nuisances caused by the cats."

The ordinance lists three different types and costs of licenses for cats: neutered or spayed cats, $5 per year; unaltered cats, $25 per year; and cats kept for breeding, $100 per year. Cat owners with a breeder's license will be required to have all litters of kittens licensed within 12 weeks of birth.

Owners of licensed cats will be provided with a certificate which can be posted in the front of the home where the cat will be kept. The posting it is not required. The certificate will include the type, color and any distinguishing markings of the cat and the classification of the license.

Guye said when cat owners come to register their cat, they need to bring a description of the cat and proof the feline has the proper vaccinations and whether it has been spayed or neutered.

According to City Clerk Phil Graziani, when the new the budget goes into effect there will be a line item showing the revenue from the cat ordinance. The ordinance does not establish where the money will be spent ,so it will be placed in the general fund. Council has discussed that the money will be given to the Randolph County Humane Society and the Elkins City Council Finance Committee is considering establishing a line item for the expenditure of the money.

"When the money comes in, we will be able to identify the money is from the cat fee in the budget," Graziani said.